August: 18 albums you need to hear this month
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Bats For Lashes 'The Bride' (Parlophone)
Over the course of three Bat For Lashes albums and her side project Sexwitch, Natasha Khan has transformed into the queen of gothic pop, authoring tales of mystery, lust and dark forces. ‘The Bride’ is a concept album about a woman whose fiancé dies in a crash on the way to their wedding. The resulting love, loss and grief are classic Bat For Lashes subjects, and she does them considerable justice. From the harps and orchestral swells of brief but majestic opener ‘I Do’ to the throbbing noir of ‘In God’s House’ and the skippity synth rock of ‘Sunday Love’, the mood rises and falls in sympathy with its subject’s journey. It’s Khan’s most memorable record yet.
8/10